All Rise...

Editor's Note

The Charge

Oh, Mr. Sheffield…

The Case

When I was growing up in the '90s, it was more common to see The Nanny
on in my household than Friends. Some of you may consider this shocking,
but the truth is I related more to the wacky family dynamics of the former
rather than the so-cool-and-hip-it's-bland-and-sick smell of the latter. Looking
back on things now, I still consider The Nanny a funny show, and
certainly more inventive and outrageous than its Schwimmering-in clichés
competition. To me, there was something about Nanny Fine that brightened my
day…and it wasn't merely because she lived up to her last name. Hey, when
I was 10, I wanted to have Julie Andrews as my nanny. That all changed when I
was 15…

The genesis of The Nanny was cooked up by the show's star and
executive producer Fran Drescher and her ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson. Hailing
from the Flushing section of Queens, N.Y., Fran Fine—as indicated by the
title theme—was selling cosmetics in Manhattan when her flash and flair
caught the eye of Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy,
Days Of Our Lives). She had no experience, and yet Maxwell offered her a
nanny position looking after his three children: Maggie, Brighton, and Grace.
While the kids eventually grew to love her, she wasn't favored by Maxwell's
business partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane), who has been hoping to get
romantically involved with her boss.

Much of the show's comic mileage was strictly based on cultural differences.
Fran's Jewish background, Italian heritage, brassy attitude, deafening wardrobe,
and incredibly whiny nasal voice made her a virtual caricature. The Sheffields
were a carbon copy of the stuffy and respectable British family, complete with a
sarcastic domestic named Niles (Daniel Davis). This tea-at-three family is a bit
too stiff for Fran to take, so she ends up lightening up the household,
injecting color and life. Fran's wacky family would also add to the proceedings,
though I preferred the cheeky insults between Niles and C.C., as well as Fran's
rather unorthodox methods of raising children. By season three, the formula and
characters were established well enough to be comfortable to viewers, thus
enabling The Nanny to coast along for another three years.

I still like The Nanny, and enjoyed my visit with them again after
several years. It's one of those shows most audiences seem to love or hate, as
it depends on how one thought of Fran Fine. Some just find her plain annoying.
Regardless of your feeling of the character, Drescher proves to be a real comic
talent. You can tell she studied Lucille Ball while growing up in the same area
where her alter ego was from. The nasal voice wasn't exaggerated, either, and it
no doubt was a challenge to overcome when she began acting in the late '70s.
Most of her roles were regulated to bit parts or marginal character roles; one
of my favorites is when she played one of Robin Williams' girlfriends in 1990's
Cadillac Man. When she found herself the
whining queen of primetime, however, she struck sitcom gold, and it's pretty
safe to say she will always be remembered as Ms. Fine.

Still, The Nanny has one major drawback…aside from the
extremely exaggerated characterizations of Fran's family, that is. Like most
sitcoms, this is designed as comfort food to digest when you're relaxing on the
couch. Back in its heyday, The Nanny was very amusing when confined to
half-hour or one-hour timeslots. Watching an entire season on DVD is like
overdosing on Hostess Snowballs or cotton candy—it fills you up quickly,
and you need to wait a couple of days before coming back for seconds.

The show hasn't really aged all that well. Still, it's interesting in a
nostalgic way to watch Roger Clinton (Bill's younger brother) as the Sheffield's
next door neighbor. However, jokes referring to the dating show Studs and
Hugh Grant's affair with a hooker come off as rather stale today.

Useless Trivia of the Day: Shaughnessy and Grant worked together in the 1989
miniseries Till We Meet Again, although they shared only one scene.

Still, the cameos are great fun. Aside from legends Elizabeth Taylor, Marvin
Hamlisch, and Milton Berle, we also have Michael McKean as C.C.'s brother, David
Lander as a weird landlord, and Lainie Kazan as Fran's Aunt Frieda. One episode
has Fran somehow ending up as a contestant on Jeopardy!, complete with a
self-deprecating Alex Trebek. The funniest ones, however, are when the
Sheffields go to Hollywood and Fran wanders onto a set looking for a bathroom.
When she comes out, they are shooting a scene for Dr. Quinn, Medicine
Woman, and so Fran takes the opportunity to throw herself on Joe Lando.

Since I haven't viewed Seasons One and Two in their entirety, I can't say
for sure if Season Three is on par with them visually and audibly. Nevertheless,
the full-frame presentations and 2.0 Stereo tracks all serve their purpose,
making The Nanny just as good as viewing it in syndication on the
Lifetime Network. There are no extras, although the rarely broadcast animated
holiday special "Oy To The World" is included here.